Why Foran believes Manly 'underachieved' in 2026

Manly coach Kieran Foran has reflected on his first season in charge of the Sea Eagles.

Having retired the season prior, it’s been a whirlwind year for the New Zealander.

Initially, Foran was set to remain with the Titans and take up a specialist role at the club. Instead, he headed south and joined his former club in the Sea Eagles as an assistant coach under Anthony Seibold.

But after Manly lost their first three games of the season, the 2011 Premiership player became the club’s interim coach.

With his appointment in Round 5, the Sea Eagles enjoyed a reversal in form, winning eight of his first 10 games, seeing them jump from bottom four to top four.

Following their exceptional start under Foran, their season would conclude harshly, losing six of their last nine matches. That would result in the club finishing just outside the top eight

As a result, the 36-year-old believes the club has underachieved.

“It was hard not to be frustrated, to be honest with you as a coach,” Foran said on SEN’s The Run Home with Joel and Fletch.

“In the sense that when I look back on the season, I felt like we underachieved, to be completely honest with you.

“I felt as though we put ourselves in a really strong position midway through the year, and we gained some wonderful momentum, and we were playing good footy.

“But we did lose a number of close games that potentially could have swung our way and then we didn't handle that dip in form well, in my opinion. We lost six in a row.

“Yes, it coincided with a number of key injuries and key guys going down but I wanted us to manage that period better.”

But despite missing out on finals in his first season in charge, Foran was proud of his side's efforts, believing they can improve significantly in 2027.

“I was always proud of them and I felt like their effort and their intent and their desire to go to the contest was everything that we want to build,” he continued.

“But I felt as though we did put ourselves in a position to play finals footy and we didn't get there.

“That's the challenge for us now, as a club and as a group is that we don't, we don't want to keep finishing middle of the road, in my opinion.

“We've gotta find a way to be a consistent top four team and that's the challenge for us, we've gotta aim high, that's why you're in this game.

“That's where we wanna be, we've gotta find a way to deliver on that.”

The Sea Eagles will lose Reuben Garrick and Nicholas Lenaz for 2027 whilst gaining Kayliss Fatialofa, Toni Mataele, Davvy Moale and Starford To'a at this stage.